Amazing Spider-Man #15 (Image Comics)

“Power Play” comes to its rousing conclusion! Regent’s master plan is working until Mary Jane Watson gets into the fray!

Why does this book matter?

I’m pretty sure the cover is going to sell more issues than anything I can say, but I’m also interested to see how Regent is defeated in the main universe. Consider how he basically ruled the Earth in the Secret Wars tie-in you can bet he’s going to be difficult to defeat.

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

Good setup.

Mary Jane takes center stage as she straps on her hero boots to kick some butt! I think fans of the character will enjoy this turn for her particularly after she recounts the times she’s been a superhero before. This isn’t new for her, and Slott throws her into the battle reminding us one of the reasons Peter loves her so much is her heroic nature. She’s the ultimate good guy girlfriend…unfortunately she’s with Tony Stark these days. That said, Slott pulls off her heroic turn quite well.

Though much of this issue is all about Regent fighting the good guys back, Slott also gives us some nice Peter/Miles bonding time. During and after the fight the characters trade some banter and there’s a sweet moment where Miles snaps a selfie with Spidey.

Giuseppe Camuncoli continues to position himself as one of the best Spider-Man artists ever. This issue is no different, with some interesting layouts during the Regent battle and one truly epic and detailed full page splash with a ton of heroes on the page. He manages to stuff the character heavy pages with strong facial expressions and easy on the eyes faces to keep the dialogue moving too. All in all he delivers a pop Spider-Man requires to feel fun.

It can’t be perfect can it?

Though there’s an epic splash page with a bunch of heroes facing off with Regent–a high point for sure–there’s quite a bit of table setting going on in this issue. Six pages in fact are devoted to the fallout of Regent and then setting up the next story arc. That’s a surprising number of pages given comics are around 21 pages of content.

Oh ya!

Is It Good?

This issue pulls off an appearance by Mary Jane as a hero quite well with good setup, solid heroics, and a concerned Spider-Man that puts his trust in her. All that combined makes for a rousing conclusion to the Regent story.